Belly Good Restaurant,Sunway

Coming home to Malaysia meant only one thing. Lots of yummy food to choose from *drool*

First group of friends I met up with are my ex-colleagues from my Maersk days.

Being technology savvy people, we arranged the gathering through Facebook.

Then we realized not many people who were invited to the event actually stalk Facebook like us =P

So in the end...gotta use the old fashion way. Mobile phones to the rescue =)

Davin suggested to pig out at this place called Belly Good which is located in Sunway Mentari.

It's easy to miss this restaurant as it is lost in the sea of steamboat restaurants in the area.

At the rate these restaurants are mushrooming, I think soon Sunway would be famous as the "steamboat" area just like how Klang is famous for "bak kut teh".

Their tagline says it all...definitely a Pork Lover's Paradise.

I spot ICE CREAM!

The restaurant has a nice ambiance. Very relaxed and a nice place to chill out. They even have wines and imported beer such as Hoegaarden to relax you further =P

This appetizer came highly recommended by the waitress. It looks like yummy potato wedges doesn't it? It's NOT. This is super sinful and super full of piggy fats. This is deep fried pork skins. As if deep fried food is not bad enough, the crunchy pieces of pork skins comes loaded with layers of fat as well. Definitely not a dish of the faint hearted. Maybe we should all go get our cholesterol levels checked =P

'Cause I'm greedy...I ordered the mixed platter which comes with a piece of pork belly, 2 pieces of pork ribs, mashed potatoes and fries. The pork belly is really tender and juicy....I'm drooling just thinking about it. The ribs however could be better. I feel that it's too dry and tough.

I'm not sure whose pork ribs are these...But it's a little healthier than mine as I spot some vege on the plate =P Wait....I think it's Davin's.

I believe this is Alvin's Spicy Pork Ribs. I could be wrong. If it's not Alvin's then it's Davin's lar.

This is Chloe's dish. I've got no idea what it is...maybe it's a pork chop. Maybe not. I remember someone commented it looks like fish & chips. Or was it chicken.

Nevermind....moving on...

...to Alex's sausage platter. There's big & fat, small & skinny...all looks juicy doesn't it? Forgot to ask him whether it's yummy ;P

After dinner...let the finance guy deal with the bill...

Compulsory group pic =)

L-R : Davin, Alvin, Alex, Zeno, Chloe & Me

All of us are smiling broadly 'cause we had just overloaded ourselves with pork. Just kidding...the smiles were result of a good night out with great company...and also pigging out on pork =D

Food in Belly Good is pretty good considering it's reasonable prices.

Portioning is quite impressive for Malaysian standards...which is a good thing =)

Will take Mum and Eric to try it out one day.

Find out more about Belly Good at http://www.bellygood.com.my/

I don't know why...but whenever I'm out with friends and hanging out, somehow, someway, we always end up being the last table to leave.

Same thing happened at Belly Good.

We were having such a great time that we failed to realise the employees were waiting for us to leave so they could close the restaurant!

We got the hint when they started to pull the shutters close =P

Time does fly when you're having fun =)

So...we got out of the restaurant and continued chatting on the walkway.

No one seemed to want to go home...so we ended up in Davin and Alvin's house for more fun.

And do what Chinese do during Chinese New Year.

That's how I learnt to play Texas Hold'em.

Gals power ruled that night...

Chloe was the big winner *high five*

I won RM4 *high five again*

The guys sulked =P

Alex...there's always next year!

Hot & Wet

Can't believe how hot and humid it is in KL.
And it's raining.

From 9 degrees to 29 degrees Celsius in 4 hours.
I'm burning hot. And sticky -_-

I'm missing Eric badly.
Miss seeing his smile.
Miss tasting his kisses.
Miss feeling his hugs.
I miss...just being with him.

Have to keep myself busy.
'Cause I'll tear up whenever I miss him too much.
My eyes are quite swollen and I kinda resemble a goldfish now.

So the plan is...
I'm going to meet up with as many friends as I can to keep myself busy.
Luckily there's many dinners and drinks lined up already.
And also meeting up with my aunts and cousins.
Mahjong sessions are in the horizon =P

There's so many things to be taken care as well.
Bills, banking, shopping, cleaning...and the list goes on.

Not forgetting I have a cross stitch project to work on =)

But I'll still be missing Eric every second of the day.
That's how my heart chose to be.
I'll let it be.

Welcoming the Ox

Gong Hei Fatt Choy!

So the Ox has arrived.
Funnily, it feels the same to me.
A few hours ago, it was the Rat, and now it's the Ox.
Maybe I was hoping to see if the animals will make a vast difference.
But then, maybe I'm just being naive.
Being Chinese, you can't help being swept along with all these talks about the animals in the Chinese zodiac.

The Ox is everywhere. On the streets. On tv. Even on humans.

The Ox year is said to be good for us born in the year of the Rooster.
I hope it's true. Never hurt to be optimistic does it?
I still can't recite the whole list of animals of the zodiac in the correct order.
Mum can.
She even remembers the animals of my aunts, uncles, and cousins.

For me, I now know Rat was last year, Ox is this year and next year, Tiger.
I'm hoping to have an Ox baby.
If that doesn't happen, most likely we'll work on getting a little Tiger.
I've been told to avoid the Tiger year as it tends to have some undesirable traits.
But I'm getting older as the year goes by.
It's a dilemma.

As Eric says, we'll worry about it when we have to. And I think he's right.

So here's to being a year older (for the Chinese, after the new year, we're always 1 year older than our birth age) and hopefully a little wiser.

Wishing friends and family abundance of Wealth, Health and Happiness in the year of the Ox.

Gong Hei...Gong Hei!!!

Another Cold Spell

We were just enjoying the warmer days.
Then temperature dipped to below 10 degrees Celsius.
It was so cold I'm all wrapped up like a dumpling again.

Not a pretty sight. But since everyone else looks like dumplings too...I guess I can live with it.

Sad to report that we lost 2 more guppies babies.
I think we're going to lose more if the cold spell continues on like this.

How can guppies survive when humans are freezing their noses off in this temperature?

Yeah...I give them a max of 10 days.

Soon it'll be Chinese New Year. This year, we're going to have the reunion dinner in Macau.

It'll only be Eric, Mum and me.

Last year's celebration was a super big family affair as Grandma celebrated her 80th birthday. And I was super fat as well. Enough said.

Most of my aunts, uncles and cousins are in Sitiawan right now.

There's a part of me that feels sad because I'm not there with them.

My family is one crazy bunch of people but I love being around them.

I bet my aunts are sitting around gossiping, uncles playing mahjong and young cousins playing blackjack. I'm sure Grandma is happy to have everyone back home.

But it can be quite chaotic having about 40 adults and children under one roof.

Imagine the line to use the washroom =P

Family is a wonderful thing to have. I'm here with family, but I do miss my big family back home. I hope they misses us too.

Cross stitch : ABC Baby Afghan

Last year I was searching around for a cross stitch project to occupy my time and I came across this cute and pretty afghan. If you're wondering what's an afghan, it's a blanket but made by hand. It's a very personal gift in my opinion.

When I saw this Baby Hugs ABC Afghan by Dimensions. I couldn't resist. I just had to get it eventhough we don't have a baby yet(not from lack of trying!) So I thought why not stitch it first then when our baby comes...there's a beautiful afghan all ready to keep the baby warm =)

So off I went searching for the cheapest kit to buy. I stalked eBay day and night hoping to bid on the one with the perfect price. I've tried searching in shops but they don't seem to stock these kind of cross stitch kits.

Finally...I found one and made my first eBay purchase. And thus began my anxious 2 months wait for it to arrive. It's seriously crappy that it takes that long to arrive from the USA because of customs. Much prefer to buy it at the store if I can to save myself all the trouble of making sure my package arrives..

When the package arrived...I tore into it in record time.

The kit comes with cotton thread, 18 count acrylic afghan fabric, needle and instructions. All I had to do is sort out the thread and arrange them on a card and then stitch away!

When I'm done, it should look like this.

I feel that the afghan size is just nice at 29" x 45"(74x114cm).

The fabric is really soft and not too heavy for a baby.

Just perfect.

And I do believe my baby will love it =)

Back Alley Dinner, Macau

In Macau, it's hard to find places to eat where tables and chairs are placed on roads like in KL. Somehow, Eric found one in a old area of Macau. In a back alley no less.

This is the only table which have a roof over it. Everyone one else would be sitting under the stars in the cold. Like us.

No teapot here. Just a plastic jug.

Don't be fooled by my warm smile. It was freaking cold.

But Eric was just wearing his t-shirt without his jacket. I guess having multiple layers of fat helps =P

Rice is served the way they always served it in Macau. In a small bowl with a freaking huge mountain of rice.

Fried oysters with eggs. Not very good as it's too salty. Barely can see the oysters as well. If you can find this place, don't order this.

Fish head with some vege soup. I had one spoon of soup. Didn't like it as it's tasteless and the colour is just so unappetizing.

Beef fried with ginger. Love the ginger but the beef were cut into pieces of various sizes. Since some pieces were super big and some super small...they need to do some QC.

This on the other hand...is super yummilicious. Salt and pepper prawns that comes with a head bigger than it's body. Another plus point for this dish...it is fried with chillies =)

Beansprout with Chinese sausages. Sausages are super fatty...but that's how we like them!

See how big is the taugeh (beansprout) next to the prawns? Don't know where they get the super huge taugeh from. Okay...the prawns were pretty small but that doesn't mean the taugeh is not big. It's long too =P

It was packed and people have to wait for tables to be available. As usual, have to share tables with strangers when eating in such places in Macau.

This is the kitchen and the man on the right is the chef.

If you're worried about hygiene, maybe you should skip this place when in Macau, that is, if you can find it. We paid MOP160 for dinner which is about RM70. Quite reasonable I guess considering the ambiance but you have to shiver in the cold while having your dinner. And also you'll be eating cold dishes. Every dish gets cold within 5 minutes of arriving on our table. Also...there's no menu.

After dinner, we walked around a little and came across a few roadside stalls selling snacks and desserts. So obviously we had to give it a try =)

Snacks stall. Everything is deep fried so it's super oily.

We got some wanton (dumplings), fish balls and sausages that is stuffed with fish paste. As I said...super oily.

Next to the snacks stall, is the dessert.

Clockwise from left : Black sesame, red bean and barley/soya.

This is the first time I had Chinese desserts that comes with a whole egg with it. A little weird actually. But the desserts were delicious. While we were there, many people came for takeaways. Seems like it's very popular with the locals.

Don't think I wanna go eat at the back alley place again. I rather have McD's.

The dessert on the other hand...is worth a special visit =)

R.I.P Guppies

I really think I'm cursed.

All 3 adult guppies are dead.

One died after the other. Within 48 hours.

Wonder whether it was the plant or pebbles that killed them.

All babies are still doing okay *cross fingers*

=(

Whale & Guppies

We crossed the border to Zhuhai again to do some shopping and eating. As things are way cheaper there, it's worth the trouble going through immigration.

First stop was lunch at Whale Restaurant. It's one of our favourite restaurant to eat it. It's packed as usual for lunch but luckily we managed to get a table.

I love roast suckling pig. This one is not too bad. The skin is crispy and tasty. Wish they have a better sauce to go with it and a bigger portion!

I didn't like the spring rolls. The skin is too thick for me and very oily.

This is China's version of "char siew chee cheong fun" The sauce is served separately. Looks so unappetizing doesn't it? Drench it with sauce and it's ain't too bad.

These are not your normal egg tarts. These are bird's nest egg tarts. See those jelly like stuffs? That's the bird's nest. First time I ever heard of such a dim sum. But this is China...anything also can happen.

The tart tasted ok to me. Nothing special at all besides the blob of bird's nest. Eric said it tasted "cheap". I know people can feel 'cheap', things can look 'cheap'...but first time I'm hearing food tasted 'cheap'. Well...there's a first time for everything =)

I have high expectations for this small butter pau.

But was extremely disappointed =( The filling was thick, dry and too sweet. It was supposed to be runny and oozing a yellow yummy paste. And the pau's skin is so hard when it's supposed to be fluffy. Don't ever order this. Definitely a first and the last.

Obviously we had more dishes but it's just a repeat of what we normally order. As usual we had the pigeons (which is a must-have), scrimp dumplings, chicken feet and pork ribs.

When we're done with lunch...time to buy some stuffs. Specifically....more yarn. So that I can knit more scarfs. I know...even Eric thinks so. I'm so overdoing the knitting thingy. But I can't seem to stop as my list of people to knit for keeps getting longer 0_o.

Laden with many balls of yarn, we then move on to food shopping. How can we not when the things in Zhuhai is half the price of what is being sold in Macau?

After much walking around...time for a drink at a cafe facing a super busy main road where car honks are never ending.

The menu is good for a laugh. Luckily they're serving "Fillet Steat" and not "Fillet Teat" =P

They also serve Bacow Sandwiches, Jam Woffles and also Toast with Ga Yan(I'm wondering if they mispelled kaya)

Eric's iced milk tea and Mum's Lemon Coke. Yup...we're having iced drink while sitting outside during winter. I know...we're a weird family.

This is my Iced Magic Coffee. The only magical thing about this drink is that it only appeared in front of me 30 minutes after ordering. Apparently...they are really busy -_- Well...I was pissed off and asked the waitress as how is it possible that they delivered Eric's and Mum's drink 20 minutes already but mine is still pending? She started to repeat the story about how busy they are and there's not even an apology. Crappy service.

Relaxing after my magical coffee arrived. I really like my scarf =)

Update on our guppies. We got them some greenies and some flooring. As if their home is not small enough, we decided to do a little renovation for them.

New plants and pebbles to play with. It looks kinda funny right with the plant above the water? Or maybe we could just say it's artistically revamped =P

I think the guppies like the new additions to their aquarium.

Baby guppies have grown quite a bit since they came into the big scary world. When we first put the plant into their container, they were all hiding in a corner and avoided it. I was telling Eric maybe it's not such a good idea...

I think the plant is scaring them...maybe should take it out...

*looks worriedly at babies*

They haven't seen a plant before since they were born. Of course scared lar -_-

After a little while...the babies were happily playing hide and seek =) They even camouflage very well with the pebbles.

We only have 7 guppies babies left as one died earlier. We also have one baby who kinda lost his tail and swimming weirdly.

I'm really crossing my fingers they'll be able to grow up and not die...so I'm feeding them lots.

Mum thinks the other female is pregnant...maybe we'll have more babies soon =)

Sai Se Restaurant, Macau

This Sai Se restaurant is located just off San Ma Lo. Quite hidden in an alley actually. Business is mostly locals and it gets pretty packed during peak hours.

This is how big the restaurant in. Kidding =P There's more tables upstairs.

Very steep stairs and a view of the kitchen at the back.


Some ugly looking fish waiting to be eaten.

There's crabs as well.

How freaky does these fishes look? Cannot believe that such fishes exist.

Not sure if it's a Chinese thing, but in Macau and China...restaurants will privide a pot of hot tea and a plastic container for you to clean your chopticks, spoons, bowls, cups, table cloth & etc before eating. Sometimes if you're too slow...they'll just take away the container and you're stucked without tea drenched cutleries to eat with. They might be clean, they might not. Who knows. So just to be safe...drown them in the hot tea.

Some funky black chicken shark's fin soup.

Really small shark's fin. In China, you'll never know if you're getting the real fin or just some jelly.

These ribs are yummy...juicy and comes with garlics =)

Again...another stir fry vege.

This chicken ain't too bad. Maybe we should hold back on chicken since the bird flu is back.

Small bowl with a mountain of rice.

Some stuffed tofu...I like it but it could do with a stronger sauce.

Yeah...a little tricky trying to eat with such a small bowl with so much rice 0_o

This restaurant is not too bad for Macau's standard. Price is reasonable but definitely not as cheap as Zhuhai.

It's so cold now and blogging about food is making my hungry =(